Newborn Photography

January 31, 2017

In the past, we’ve talked about why we think maternity photography is so important. If you want to read that blog post, here it is! In addition to the importance of maternity photography, it’s also just one of our favorite types of photography to shoot. We also love newborn photography. It’s such a precious time in a couple’s and family’s life, and for us to get to be a part of that is magical. We love getting to freeze that moment in time.

We also very much understand that scheduling a newborn session can come with a lot of client apprehension. We wanted to share insight into our newborn sessions to ease parents’ concerns and share what to expect! First of all, we encourage parents to take newborn photos within 1-2 weeks of being born. They will change a lot, and the tinier they are, the easier they are to pose. Especially if the parents want all of the traditional newborn poses, 1-2 weeks after birth is best.

When the clients arrive, we get the studio very warm. We turn up the studio’s heat and add a space heater to our studio. For someone that isn’t the newborn, the temperature may feel toasty, but for the star newborn, the temperature will be very comfortable. We also turn on white noise to ease any external noise. Next, the baby should be fed. They need to be full and ready to sleep as we start the session. Feeding in the car or before the session at home is too early. The baby will likely sleep before the session and be wide awake during, which makes them much harder to pose. From here, we get the newborn settled in the studio and begin the session!

So, as a parent, what should you bring? We encourage any special or meaningful props, such as nursery items, large letter props of initials, sports memorabilia (baseball gloves or football helmets), wedding rings (for posing with rings on the toes), favorite children’s books, etc. Regarding logistical items, bringing extra clothing for the baby and the parents if they will be featured in the photos.

We tend to clear our mornings when we have an early newborn shoot scheduled. If the baby is really sleepy, it can take as little as an hour. However, we’ve had newborn shoots be up to 4 hours long. Regardless of the length of time, it really is so meaningful to get to work with families and their newborns. We love doing newborn photography. It’s such a memorable experience for us each time we do a newborn photo shoot.